In fact you will still get to our new website if you type in our old address, but after a few months this link will be taken out.

I also ought to explain that if you just google The Arts Society Horsley, you’ll see a number of other links on the page, including to a site set up for us by The Arts Society. They have set up sites like this for all the local societies, but they contain very little information at the moment, mainly just giving our location, when we meet and the address of our own website!

Our new email address is also now working - it’s info@theartssocietyhorsley.org.uk, but again for a few months you will still reach us if you email the old email address.

But I also had other reasons for wanting to email you - and that is to tell you about three things that are happening soon.

One is that we’re hosting a stall at the West Horsley Fete, West Horsley Place, on 9th September (12-4pm). So I do hope you’ll come along and see us - it’s worth coming just to have a wander around the lovely grounds there and to see the new opera building in the round! - although those of you who came with us to the opera will already have had this pleasure.

The second is to tell you about an Arts Society event to be held at Leatherhead Theatre on Friday 8th September at 7:30pm. Tickets are FREE, but must be booked beforehand by calling or visiting Leatherhead Theatre Box Office - 01372365141.

The lecture is 'From Phaetons to Phantoms' and the lecturer is Clive Barham Carter. Clive will describe some common types of carriage, trace how they influenced car design, say something about the skills involved, and illustrate coachwork design in its extravagant heyday of the first half of the 20th century.

The third is to let you know in time about the Special Interest morning on Friday 10 November 2017, organised by the East Surrey Area, so that you will still be able to buy tickets if interested. The lecture is called ‘Tyrants and Martyrs of Imperial Russia: A History of the Romanov Dynasty from Catherine the Great to Nicholas II’, and the lecturer is Douglas Skeggs. The meeting will be held at The Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon, Cobham, KT11 3QQ.

There will be two talks looking into Catherine’s turbulent reign and those of the generations that follow. The programme for the morning is:

10am Registration and Welcome (coffee/tea available)

10.30am Lecture: The New Byzantium: Russia at the time of Catherine the Great

11.30am Coffee/tea and biscuits

12 - 1pm Lecture: The Last Romanovs: The life and death of Nicholas and Alexandra

Tickets cost £19, and if you would like to buy tickets, please send your cheque made payable to NADFAS East Surrey Area, together with a stamped addressed envelope, to Mrs Ann Hollywood at Kames, 34 Park Road, Limpsfield, RH8 0AW.

Well, I’ll leave you in peace now to enjoy the rest of the summer, and will be in touch again in September to give you more information about our October lecture.